THE LATE MURDERFURTHER PARTICULARS.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 734, 1 March 1877, Page 2

THE LATE MURDERFURTHER PARTICULARS.

At the inquest on the body of Morgan, vary little was elicited as to the pursuit of the murderer by , ~ XT "aruawahia and Whata whata i.* 6 " ■", „~ —«HedgerandKay, police,;and.3Vleb D .. ' —v 0 great of Ngaruawahia, who desc-x . credit for the energetic and ' plucky way m which they tracked and followed him, were unnoticed. Hobson, we learn, soon after rousing up the authorities of Ngaruawahia, started by himself upon the track of the murderer towards Whatawhata, where he arrived about 1 a.m. He called up the local constable, .McKnight, and started himself for Rarakurihi. McKnight ran down to the ferry, and found that the man had just crossed over. Deeming it useless to follow" the murderer on foot, he caught his horse, and was setting off m pursuit, when he was joined by Messrs Hedge? and Kay, who had come from Ngaruawahia, calling up the settlers as they came. The three started up the western side of the Waipa, and tracked the horse ridden by Patui, up to the junction of the Alexandra and Raglan roads. There the footprints were lost. One of the party then rode a mile along the Raglan road, and found that the murderer had not gone that way. About this time, Mr ffedger had picked up the track, at the Kanivvhaniwha bridge. It will be understood that the tracking was done by lighting a candle, and searching the rpad. It was fortunate, indeed, they had SHich a man as Hedger with them, as h^e Js a splendid tracker. No difficulty was experienced until the Kaniwhaniwha getfteingnj; was

cached. Here, a number of old racks had to be examined, and the earch was given up, and a push was made for Thompson's, at Harapipi, where the roads all meet Here, the tracks were picked up again, still leading for Alexandra. A hard gallop was kept up until Livingstone's was reached, when the murderer had been captured about three-quarters of an hour before, by the Alexandra police. It is plain that, if the pursuing party had not been so often thrown off the scent, or, had it been daylight, the murderer would have been caught before he had gone half the distance. As it was, he could not have crossed the boundary, as his horse was done, while the pursuers had fresh horses. Throughout, the efforts made by constabulary and settlers, m effecting Patui's . capture, deserve the warmest thanks of the community. Had the murderer escaped, and been sheltered, as he doubtless would have been, by the King, the Government would have beea placed m a.mosb awkward position. Either they must have gone through the humiliating farce, as m the case of Winiata, of endeavouring to obtain his surrender by diplomatic action, which would have been a failure and a scandal, or they would have seen the Waikato settlers, which is the more probable of the two, taking the matter into their own hands, irrespective of the Native Office, or any other interference. The conduct of those immediately concerned, Messrs Kirk, Roberts, Hedger, Kay, and others, is deserving of some publio recognition on the part of the Government of the Colony, as having averted a very serious cause of trouble. We stated at the time our belief that the reason alleged by Patui for killing Morgan was not the true one. It will be remembered that there were two natives sentenced for the robbery at Kihikihi. One of them, a boy nine years old, is at present m Whatawhata, having been released by the Defence Minister. We now learn that; he stated that, during his stay m prison, Morgan never swore at, or abused' the other prisoner, Te Patui, and that before he left, Te Patui asked him if he would help to kill Morgan. The boy answered that, he would not, as they had enough to pay for already. This shows that the crime was a premeditated one, and that the murder was not committed for the reasons stated by Te Patui to Major Mair. Most probably, as we have already said, the murder was done m revenge for, and to wipe out the indignity of imprisonment at the hands of the law.